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Education

• Postdoctoral Fellowship in STD/HIV-1 Research, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine
• PhD (Anthropology with a minor in African Studies): Indiana University, Bloomington
• MA (Applied Anthropology): Ball State University
• BA (Anthropology and Sociology): Hanover College

Selected Publications

Book

2022 Viral Frictions: Global Health and the Persistence of HIV Stigma.  Special Series in Medical Anthropology: Health, Inequality and Social Justice. New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press.

Read more about Dr. Pfeiffer’s book here:
And here:

Refereed Journal Articles and Book Chapters

2026 Pfeiffer, Elizabeth J., and Sara Mendez+. “Medicalizing the Social Determinants of Health and the Inadvertent Reproduction of Inequities through Social Care Program Implementation in the United States.” Social Science & Medicine 392. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.118981.

2023  Pfeiffer, Elizabeth J. “Narratives on Reproductive Justice among Black Adolescent Girls in Clinical Research in the US.” Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness 4(3):222-235. doi: 10.1080/01459740.2023.2185145. 

2022  Pfeiffer, Elizabeth J., Chelsea L. De Paula, Wilson O. Flores, and Alexandria J. Lavallee. “Barriers to patients’ acceptance of social care interventions in clinic settings.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine 63(3S2):S116-S121. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2022.03.035  

2021  Humphrey, John M., Marsha Alera, Bett Kipchumba, Elizabeth J. Pfeiffer, Julia Songok, Winfred Mwangi, Wycliffe Kosgei, Beverly Musick, Constantin Yiannoutsos, Juddy Wachira, and Kara Wools Kaloustian. “A Qualitative Study of the Barriers and Enhancers to Retention in Care for Pregnant and Postpartum Women with HIV.” PLOS Global Public Health 1(10): e0000004. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000004.

2021    Pfeiffer, Elizabeth J., and Harrison M. K. Maithya. “The Cultural Politics of Secrecy during HIV Home Counseling and Testing Campaigns in Kenya.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 23(7):867–82. doi:10.1080/13691058.2020.1736632.

2018    Pfeiffer, Elizabeth J. “‘The Post-Election Violence Has Brought Shame on This place’: Narratives, Place, and Moral Violence in Western Kenya.” African Studies Review 61(2):183–209. doi:10.1017/asr.2017.117.

2018.  Pfeiffer, Elizabeth J. and Harrison M. K. Maithya.  “Bewitching Sex Workers, Blaming Wives: HIV/AIDS, Stigma, and the Gender Politics of Panic in Western Kenya.” Global Public Health 13 (2): 234-248.

2017.  Brian Joseph Gilley and Elizabeth J. Pfeiffer. “White Man’s Disease:  American Indian AIDS Conspiracy Theory and the Refusal of Synthesis.” Medicine Anthropology Theory 4 (3): 1-20.

2017. Pfeiffer, Elizabeth J., Harrison M. K. Maithya, Mary Ott, and Kara Wools-Kaloustian.  “Dangerous Bodies, Unpredictable Minds: HIV/AIDS, Mental Disorders, and Stigma Syndemics in Western Kenya.” In Foundations in Biosocial Health, edited by Shir Lerman, Bayla Ostrach, and Merrill Singer. Lexington, KY: Lexington Books.

2016.  Pfeiffer, Elizabeth J., Kyle A. McGregor, Barbara Van Der Pol, Cathlene Hardy Hansen, and Mary A. Ott. “Willingness to Disclose STI Status to Sex Partners among College-Aged Men.” Sexually Transmitted Diseases 43 (3): 204–206.

Courses

• ANTH 101:  Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
• ANTH 261: The Complexities of Global Health
• ANTH 265: Anthropological Perspectives on Childhood
• ANTH 307: Applied Anthropology 
• ANTH 309: Medical Anthropology
• First Year Seminar: Global Perspectives on Health
• INGOS 301: Global Development

Additional Information

Research Interests

Dr. Pfeiffer is an applied sociocultural anthropologist with specializations in medical anthropology, global health, and African Studies. As a medical anthropologist, Dr. Pfeiffer is committed to the pursuit of global health equity and collaborating with others to help solve health-related problems in our shared world. Her teaching and research interests broadly include infectious and chronic diseases, health disparities and the social determinants of health, disease-related stigma, and reproductive and adolescent health in sub-Saharan Africa and the United States.

Areas of Expertise

Medical Anthropology, African Studies, Kenyan Studies, International Development/Globalization, Global Public Health, Infectious Diseases (especially HIV), Reproductive Health, Science and Technology Studies, Social Determinants of Health, Disease Stigma, Education, Applied Anthropology, Ethnographic, Qualitative, and Community-Engaged Participatory Research, and Health-Related Program Evaluation